Prosper.com -- LPSG Financial Group?

Have you guys heard of Prosper.com? It's a web site in which everyday people can petition for loans. The site will ask you for identifying information, a bank account, and information to determine your credit score and your debt-to-income ratio. Other site members can front you money for your loan, and once it's funded, you'll receive your money transferred to your account. The idea is to tell a story of not just how much you want, but why you want it in order to appeal to other people. Once funded, you take on a 3 year loan that requires you to pay off or else face adverse financial consequences (like a knock on your credit score).

The site enables people to band together to form "groups" as a way of protecting financial interests and minimizing risks. Ideally, group members finance each other and build a site reputation, especially good if people pay on time.

I was talking about it with a buddy on here, and we think it'd be great if LPSGers got Prosper accounts, endorsed their friends, and then financially backed each other. It only takes $50 to initiate a bid. And to think of the vision here: a bunch of big dicks certainly not acting like big dicks, helping each other, a real community.

Gold Member

The idea of the Prosper.com site seems like an interesting concept, just as micro-credit funding for developing countries around the world sound interesting.

At the same time, you do have to wonder about passing along sensitive information. Even if you trust the developers of this site, how secure is their site when it comes to protecting your personal identity and financial information? When it comes to financial transactions, the only sites that I trust are well-established financial institutions, or large portals like EBay and PayPal.

I'm just advocating caution before being swept away with the concept fo a Prospoer.com. There are several concrete matters of security that the site has to address before gaining trust.